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In 2013, Toronto City Council voted overwhelmingly against the proposal for the development of a downtown casino
development by 40 to 4. Early in the process, the figurative betting
odds on approval of the proposal would have been close to even money.
The once embattled Toronto mayor Rob Ford and a several city councilors
were early proponents of the development due to the belief that the
proposal could create 10,000 new jobs and provide the city with annual
hosting fees of $100 million. However, in the end the revenues fell
short of those that were initially promised by the province by about
half. But this wasn’t the only reason the proposal failed, a downtown
location for the casino was highly unpopular among city residents. As
casino development dithers, off-shore online casinos and betting sites
that serve Canadian customers have been the beneficiaries of this
political back and forth continued.

One hundred years ago, Detroit was the Silicon Valley of its day.
Entrepreneurs flocked to the city because it was at the cutting edge of
industrial innovation. Henry Ford perfected the assembly line,
unleashing a whole new mode of production. Mass migration followed and
made Detroit one of the fastest growing cities in the world. In the
post-war years, Detroiters enjoyed some of America’s best public schools
and had the nation’s highest rates of home ownership. Their city was
the flagship of America’s industrial power. By 1960, the population
reached almost two million.

So what happened to the one-time
fourth largest city in the US, now bankrupt and home to under 700,000
people? Many accounts blame the recent economic and foreclosure crises
and political mismanagement. It is very easy (and popular) to blame
local Detroit politicians for what has happened to their city. But these
accounts miss two important factors which the City of Detroit is little
able to influence: wider structural trends of deindustrialisation and
globalisation and extreme regional fragmentation which encourages sprawl
and ensures that the wealth which does exist in Greater Detroit remains
in the suburbs, rather than in the city.

I rarely have a problem with the format of the résumés that I read. It
is the content of a résumé that can leave me with questions about its
author and their abilities. As such, I thought it might be good to
provide a few ideas to help job seekers understand the kind of content
that might help their résumé. I can’t speak for what others like to
see, but hopefully some of these points give you food for thought so
that your résumé will get attention from employers and avoid the
pitfalls that might land your résumé in the recycling bin.

Over the past decades, emerging nations have experienced astonishing economic growth and social progress. Behind the significance of the economic role of emerging nations lies yet another striking phenomenon: the rapid rise of new world cities. If current trends remain constant, cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, Mexico City, Mumbai and Sao Paulo will rival London, New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong as the world`s leading financial centres and business hubs as early as 2025.

Over the past 50 years, Singapore has become an international leader in
urban planning and sustainability. One of the four Asian Tigers, this
small city-state of 5.3 million people has implemented innovative urban
policies and programs such as the Certificate of Entitlements (COE)
which limits car ownership, the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) and, in
particular, the unique public housing model. Singapore's public housing
model is known worldwide as a success story. Singapore's homeownership
rate is now among the highest in the world and homelessness is almost
unheard of in the City-state. Furthermore, the features of the built
environment in public housing neighborhoods have made Singapore one of
the most transit-oriented cities in the world, with over 60% of daily
trips made using public transportation.

Soon after the first starting pistol was fired, and this year’s
London Olympics were underway, a curious observation crossed the
Atlantic: the city was unusually quiet. Following months of warnings
from local authorities of imminent disruptions resulting from a surge of
visitors, The Telegraph, on the eighth day of the Games,
reported a 17 percent decline in traffic, 10 percent decline in local
shop patronage, and a 30 percent drop in visits to major tourist
destinations. In other words, this world class event had the exact
opposite effect of what most would expect. Quickly recognizing the
overestimation of expected benefits to London’s economy, business groups
began blaming authorities for the lull, believing their warnings to
have had a perverse effect on economic activity by persuading many
people to avoid the capital all together.

In the past decade, the world has witnessed an unprecedented number
of natural disasters of great magnitude. Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the
Haiti Earthquake in 2010 as well as the 2011 Tsunami and nuclear crisis
in Fukoshima are only some of the dramatic events that have shaken the
world. In addition, the world population is growing fast with
the projected addition of over 1 billion people in cities by 2050. Climate change and rapid
population growth will exacerbate the impacts on water and
energy scarcity in some places as well as on rising food and energy
prices globally. These issues already have severe implications for
communities around the world, including population displacement,
financial losses and economic decline. In 2011, 14 extreme weather
events have caused losses of over $14 billion in the United States
alone. As a result, considerable attention is now being paid to
urban resilience, that is, the ability of cities to mitigate and recover
from potential shocks and crises physically, economically and socially.
I have recently attended the Resilient Communities in North
America Workshop held in New Orleans and organized by the Joint Public
Advisory Committee (JPAC) of the Commission for Environmental
Cooperation (CEC). The goal of the workshop was to develop concrete and
effective solutions to increase the resiliency of communities across the
continent...

If you have received an email from a "Dennis Evanson" claiming to be from "Comvitabs" with a job opportunity, please delete the email. This is a phishing scam and they did not get your email from our job seeker database. Visitors to GeographyJobs sites whom have never registered as a job seeker are receiving these emails. Our system is secure. Several of my own email addresses received this message, and these email addresses are not registered on the site. Please click the title above to read the full phishing email.

It is widely accepted that increased renewable energy generation will
result in lower greenhouse gas emissions to the extent that dirtier
fossil fuel technologies are replaced by sources like wind and solar.
What I would argue is much less familiar to most people, however, is how
the geography of energy production will change in countries making a
transition to more renewables. The reason for this shift can be
explained in large part by physics: sources of renewable energy (e.g.,
sunlight or biomass) are, generally speaking, lower in energy density
than most conventional, petroleum-based sources. Energy density is a
term used to describe the amount of energy stored per unit of volume. In
other words, the higher the density of an energy source, the more of it
can be stored or transported in the same amount of space. This
concept, while overly technical for some, becomes extremely important
when planning for new energy development at the local and regional
level.

In the 19th Century, Glasgow was one of the world’s biggest industrial
cities. It produced everything from sewing machines to railway
carriages, but was primarily known for making ships. Much of this
industrial activity was situated on the banks of the River Clyde, which
runs through the heart of the city. The long process of industrial
decline during the 20th Century meant that this land became abandoned as
the shipyards closed. The surrounding neighbourhoods went into severe
decline when hundreds of thousands of manual jobs disappeared. While this story of deindustrialisation may be common in many cities, it
was the scale and severity of this decline that sets Glasgow apart from
other cities.

Rotterdam is the main port of the Netherlands and has a long maritime
tradition. In the 19th Century, the city grew rapidly as migrants from
rural areas arrived to work in the expanding docklands, which were
primarily situated on the south side of the city. The river quickly
divided the city between the prosperous northern half, with its historic
economic, commercial and cultural heart, and the southern half, which
was dominated by shipping, industry and working-class inhabitants. By
the 1970s the port shifted westward, and the old harbour, with its
associated neighbourhoods, fell into steep decline. Since the 1980s, the
city has used large flagship projects, events and the lure of the
‘creative class’ in order to reverse its fortunes and transform its
waterfront. Rotterdam has created a new waterfront, centred around a development
called the Kop van Zuid (English: Head of the South). This is a project
which other cities often cites as a model for how to create successful
mixed-use development out of an old industrial wasteland.

The world is about the get a lot……..taller. Building tall, that is what
an increasing number of cities are now gearing up for. The goal of
transforming cities into more dense, compact and sustainable places is
making them consider growing upwards rather than outwards.

Back in January I wrote about a natural gas boom taking place in the
U.S. Northeast and the many economic, social, and environmental impacts
communities should be prepared to address. For this article I want to
direct your attention further south to the State of Texas. Texas has a
long and proud history of energy production, beginning at the turn of
the 20th Century with oil and followed by decades of natural gas
drilling. While the state has in many ways adapted to and even embraced
the boom-bust cycle that characterizes most forms of resource
extraction, this new boom may be just as unfamiliar to Texans as natural
gas is to Yankees. The main difference this time around: wind energy is
the culprit.

For my next look at post graduate GIS programs in Canada, I examine that of the British Columbia Institute of Technology located in Burnaby. BCIT offers an Advanced Diploma in GIS that is designed for those with a university or college degree in a related discipline. BCIT offers the program to students on a full-time or part-time basis. This is a challenging program that will give you much of the technical knowledge you need to help set yourself apart in today’s job market. I spoke with the Program Head, and a successful graduate to learn more.

The demand for professionals with GIS skills is increasing. I’ve found it to be a common issue that many recent graduates and experienced professionals have not been able to develop the GIS skills required by today’s employers. Perhaps they were unaware of the demands and did not pursue GIS education or they were aware, but their school did not offer a substantial GIS program. In either case, there are schools across Canada addressing this problem with tremendous post-graduate GIS programs. I want to start with a look at one of the best; the Advanced Diploma in Geographic Science at The Nova Scotia Community College Centre of Geographic Sciences (NSCC COGS).

With the Oklahoma City Thunder's feat of reaching the 2012 NBA Finals, I thought it would be a good idea to revisit my article about the team's impact on economic development in OKC: Over the past two decades, billions of dollars have been invested by various government bodies on the construction and renovation of sporting facilities for professional teams, mainly in the name of urban regeneration. This kind of investment has faced much criticism, especially when the expenditure has been made toward pre-existing teams where economic activity is not created, but merely redirected. However, the case can be different if the subsidy attracts a new team. Oklahoma City is the market that has most recently gained ‘major league’ status with the arrival of the NBA’s Thunder, thanks in large part to a city referendum approving $121 million from a sales tax extension toward improvement of their downtown arena to attract the team. I wanted to explore what the Thunder has meant to Oklahoma City from an economic development perspective. To do so, I spoke with the CEO of the Oklahoma City Chamber, Roy Williams.

Frankfurt, Germany is a city which I have come to know and admire over
the last few years. It is one of the world’s wealthiest cities, a major
financial hub, home to one of Europe’s busiest airports and a magnet for
migrants. It consistently scores highly on quality of life rankings. At
first glance, Frankfurt appears a cold and business-like city. As a
tourist, it does not have the charm of a place like Heidelberg, nor does
it have the exuberant night life or cool demeanour of Berlin. Its
skyline is one of the most dramatic in Europe, leading to it being
called ‘Mainhattan,’ after the river Main, which flows through the city.
And it is this feature of Frankfurt which I would like to discuss with
you now.

Over the next few months, I'll examine waterfronts in different cities of Europe and North America. This short series of articles will present five waterfronts in an effort to understand what has made some places work, and other places not. We will also examine the challenges and opportunities faced when undertaking waterfront regeneration.

It’s no longer business as usual for many suburban malls in North America. Long considered as the success symbols of suburbia, traditional shopping malls now face major challenges. While most malls still do very well, a considerable and growing number now struggle to survive in an increasingly competitive retail environment. Ageing real estate stocks combined with the changing nature of shopping and strong competition from emerging retail forms have forced traditional malls to start reinventing themselves. The retrofitting and regeneration of malls, through good urban design principles and intensification, opens up many opportunities to bring these spaces back to life and contribute to making suburbs more sustainable.

­Cities now find themselves at the very center of the “Green Revolution” as one of the main components for achieving sustainability. As a result, several urban initiatives are being put forward to make cities greener, healthier and more eco-friendly. One of these is the concept of “Green neighbourhoods”, which is probably the very first attempt to connect urban sustainability principles with micro-level community planning. Recent experiences in Montreal and Portland, Oregon have proven successful in enhancing active transportation conditions in neighbourhoods, reducing ­carbon emissions and building community involvem­ent.­

If one thinks of the stereotypical North
American suburb, images that often come to mind are large single-story tract
housing, cul-de-sacs, parking lots, wide roads and shopping malls. In short,
developments built at a low density and often described as urban sprawl. While
this is how many suburbs begin, it is important to note that their development
is not a static process. In fact, if we look at many suburban areas today, we
can clearly see a trajectory of development which, over time, can transform
them from sprawling developments into urban neighbourhoods.

Don’t look west for what could be the modern-day equivalent of the American gold rush; look to the east, where parts of New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia are sitting atop enough shale to supply the entire nation’s natural gas needs for the next quarter-century. This fast-growing industry is not only uncovering the extent of nimbyism in a country founded on beliefs of individual freedom and liberty, but testing the limits of local planning processes as well...

While most cities in North America and Europe still struggle to get their economies back on track, others exhibit a particularly striking economic performance. There is perhaps no better example of an unexpected surge than Quebec’s capital city, Quebec City.

With the recent housing crisis, planners in Detroit have re-introduced the idea of the urban gardening movement. It is a solution that hopes to address issues regarding access to fresh locally grown food and improving the aesthetics of vacant and derelict land. However, several questions remain about what parties shall control the land and what will happen when the land becomes desirable for development...

In recent years, city planners and policy-makers have paid considerable attention to the arts and creative industries because of their potential role in regenerating post-industrial spaces. In many cities across Europe and North America, former industrial spaces have been left behind by traditional manufacturing activities due to deindustrialization and industrial restructuring processes. As a result, many inner city neighbourhoods which used to rely on manufacturing industries have gone through a long period of decline. The regeneration of these spaces has remained a significant challenge for urban practitioners since then...

The pursuit of a planning ideal in urban centers is often sought without the guiding hand of people with a real knowledge of what it means to be a resident in those communities. The coupling of a planning education along with the understanding of what makes a city livable for minority populations is vital for sustaining the practice of planning as a viable tool for change...

While a $294.8 million waterfront development in Buffalo, New York is
praised by some locals as a silver bullet to the city’s downtown
renaissance, a group of concerned citizens is making sure the project
proceeds with caution. Wielding a community benefits agreement, this
alliance won’t budge until certain conditions are met...

An issue that has consistently been front and centre in climate change talks is the dramatic reduction in the northern polar sea ice extent. With all of the discussion around sea ice extent, many interested parties do not actually know what constitutes the extent and how it is derived...

In the second part of the Location Based Services (LBS) workshop, Tasso Roumeliotis of WaveMarket
delved a little deeper into some of the technology and issues with LBS
implementation. All mobile phones are
locatable, but less than twenty percent of them are smart phones.
While smart phones are growing, the others are not going away any time
soon which brings about certain issues and challenges...

Federally funded transportation initiatives are held to high standards and required to perform equity analyses, but what about forms of quasi-public transportation such as car sharing? Like a new bus stop or subway station, the promise of a car sharing hub in one’s neighborhood can be quite liberating—especially for those who are not fortunate enough or choose not to own an automobile...

With the growing popularity of personal navigation devices, online mapping applications, and geospatial mobile phone applications, it appears that the technology is finally becoming mainstream. Curious about what impact that might have on the job market for geographers and GIS specialists, I decided to check out what the presenters at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive conference had to say.

We can divide cities into three broad areas: inner cities, inner suburbs and outer suburbs. As cities change and develop, so to do the fortunes of each area, and this is the subject this article. It will argue that the traditional beliefs of poor cities and rich suburbs is being challenged as gentrification continues and poverty suburbanises. The changing location preferences of households (particularly middle-class ones) is also reflective of this transition...

I recently participated in the 2009 National Highway Data Workshop and
Conference (HiDaC). HiDaC’s intent is to encourage
collective discussion of the often subjective and loosely defined
concepts used to track and assess the performance of the public highway
system. It also strives to facilitate coordination of data collection,
processing, and analysis practices across jurisdictions in order to
derive equitable performance measures and funding allocations across
jurisdictions.

The recent US economic recovery package funding underscores safety as a
key component of new transportation projects and also makes safety data
systems eligible for stimulus funding. Many of these new or updated
systems make innovative use of spatial technologies such as the global
positioning system (GPS), geographic information systems (GIS), and
linear referencing systems (LRS) to help identify locations on the
highways that have potential for safety improvement. This article is
the third in a series that provides a very high-level look at the
typical data and processes for highway safety analysis.

Large infrastructure projects can help to unify a city and bring a better quality of life for its inhabitants. Or it can further reinforce the social, economic and spatial divisions within a city under the guise of the relentless pursuit of urban competition, place promotion, and an appeasement towards business executives. An airport rail link is one such project which, depending on how it is built and operated, has the power to have both types of impacts.

The recent US economic recovery package funding underscores safety as a
key component of new transportation projects and also makes safety data
systems eligible for stimulus funding. Many of these new or updated
systems make innovative use of spatial technologies such as the global
positioning system (GPS), geographic information systems (GIS), and
linear referencing systems (LRS) to help identify locations on the
highways that have potential for safety improvement. This article is
the second in a series that provides a very high-level look at the
typical data and processes for highway safety analysis.

North American cities were founded on immigrants. As such, they have a rich and vibrant history and geography of immigration. It is a pattern that has been repeated over the decades. However, gentrification of these areas by young professionals is changing the patterns of immigration settlement...

The recent US economic recovery package funding underscores safety as a key component of new transportation projects and also makes safety data systems eligible for stimulus funding. Many of these new or updated systems make innovative use of spatial technologies such as the global positioning system (GPS), geographic information systems (GIS), and linear referencing systems (LRS) to help identify locations on the highways that have potential for safety improvement. This article is the first in a series that provides a very high-level look at the typical data and processes for highway safety analysis.

Many North American and European cities that once thrived as industrial hubs have experienced a great amount of urban decay while simultaneously developing numerous artistic and cultural institutions. In order for us to fully understand why these cities are the way they are today, we first have to return to a time when they were the centres of their national (and in some ways global) economy...

On Tuesday October 29th, 1929 American Markets collapsed and 30 billion
dollars vanished into thin air. On Sunday September 14th, 2008 the
huge American financial services firm, Lehman Brothers, announced
bankruptcy. Of course neither of these events happened suddenly, they
were months, years, decades in the making. The truth is nobody knows what
the fallout of the current depression will be...

One of the great things about the 2008 US election was that hundreds of
thousands of Americans became actively involved in politics for the
first time in their lives. With this groundswell of grassroots
involvement and the next census just around the corner in 2010, this
seems like a great time to bring the topic of redistricting reform to
the forefront of political discussion...

Almost 90 percent of the world's population lives north of the
equator. Only Australia, the southern portion of Africa, and most of
South America are south of the equator. The celebration of Christmas
was scheduled on December 25 in the fourth century CE. This date was
chosen because it was already recognized throughout the Roman Empire as
the birthday of various Pagan gods...

Politically, it is very difficult for planners to criticize the public participation process. Planners, however, have an interest in ensuring the community is truly represented. Not only for democratic reasons but also because minority groups may offer fresh perspective and innovative ideas...

The Beijing Olympics are now upon us. They are an international
celebration of sport, with the world’s best athletes coming together
and all the world’s eyes fixed on them. But of course, the Olympics are
far more than sport. For cities that bid for, and, if they are lucky enough, win the
right to host the games, the stakes are just as high as for the
athlete’s going for gold.

It doesn’t take much scanning through big city newspapers these days to come across articles about gentrification. From New York to Amsterdam to Toronto and beyond, old formerly working-class inner-city neighbourhoods have been transforming into trendy affluent places very quickly...

It doesn’t take much scanning through big city newspapers these days to
come across articles about gentrification. From New York to Amsterdam
to Toronto and beyond, old formerly working-class inner-city
neighbourhoods have been transforming into trendy affluent places very
quickly...

Chances are if you have studied geography, you have read a lot of
literature written by people who are not geographers. Because the
definitions of geography overlap onto many different other fields of study, it is only
logical that some of the authors who are the most influential to our
own discipline, come from other subjects...

As I have mentioned previously, geography is a very broad term. In many
regards, this is one of our strengths; as geographers, we study and
learn about such diverse topics which enable us to learn from each
other...

That’s not an easy question to answer. As someone who has studied geography all my life, I find it difficult to convey exactly what our discipline is to others. I was at a party recently, when someone asked me what I studied...